


A complex man indeed

by EternalObsession



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Episode: s01e17 Turn Turn Turn, F/M, Grant Ward Redemption, Grant Ward-centric, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Grant Ward, Reader-Insert, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-05-04 03:50:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14584320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalObsession/pseuds/EternalObsession
Summary: The day S.H.I.E.L.D fell was also the day you met your soulmate - Grant Ward.(Takes place after the events of Turn Turn Turn and carries on with the canon but with changes.)





	1. Reader POV

**_You shouldn’t have seen this._ **

 

Those are the first words your soulmate will say to you and you can’t help but wonder in what circumstances. The phrase was very ominous but you always smile at it, assuming a playful situation in which you catch your soulmate doing something stupid or embarrassing. You quickly snapped out of your wishful daydream when Agent Hand called for you with a disapproving look. Today was not the day to be drifting off. Today was the day S.H.I.E.L.D fell.

 

“When that plane touches down, take everyone on board. Except Agent Coulson, he’s mine.”

 

You were all shocked when you found out that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D and that Coulson, an agent who everyone admired and respected, was spearheading a part of it. Orders were to capture all of his team, some of whom were already here at the Hub.

 

“Cross us off, and one of yous go too,” Agent Triplett threatened us after Hand offered them positions at Hydra. We all broke into a smile, relieved that 2 more agents were not corrupted, but the celebration was cut short as Hand informed Agent Simmons that although she might not be HYDRA, her boss was.

 

Whilst the armed agents went to capture the team on the Zephyr, Hand pulled you aside.

 

“This is a crucial time for any agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and I need you to stay focused,” She stressed this point to you before continuing, “You can’t simply lose your concentration, even if we’re not actually on a mission. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

 

“Yes ma’am,” you nodded, but couldn’t help wondering why she was telling you this at such a crucial time.

 

“I’m afraid that after this whole situation has been resolved, I’ll no longer be acting as your S.O. I think that change will revitalise your focus and motivation for this job.”

 

“But ma’am, I can change - ,” your voice was cut off by an explosion that shook the base.

 

Hand instructed all the armed agents to follow the blast with her. You were standing still, in shock of what Hand had just told you. The relationship between the two of you was strange, she was definitely not like a mother figure to you but at the same time you couldn’t deny that perhaps in a few months you could consider her as a friend.

 

A few agents returned to the room and explained what had happened. It turns out that Garrett was the Clairvoyant and Coulson and his team were clear. Agent Hand and Agent Ward, a specialist from Coulson’s team, were escorting him to the Fridge. You decided that you couldn’t leave it like that with Hand, you had to try and change her mind. You were unsure about how quickly she would arrange a new S.O. for you. Knowing that Agent James wouldn’t let you on the Quinjet without clearance from the boss, you quickly snuck on. You’d wait at least a few minutes till you were definitely in the air before you sought out Agent Hand.

 

“You shot the wrong Clairvoyant before…Care to shoot the right one?” you heard Hand softly say before the sounds of gunshots rang.

 

You ran and found Agents James and Mars dead beside Garrett. A man, probably Agent Ward, was pointing a gun at your superior. Her eyes widened as she saw you.

 

“Just run!” She screamed at you.

 

Ward kept his gun pointed at Hand as he turned to you.

 

_**You shouldn’t have seen this.** _

 

Before your soul could react, your mind kicked in as you lunged for Ward and pawed the gun off his hand. You didn’t realise the moment when Garrett had managed to free himself and attacked Hand. This was really the worst time for you to fight: for one, it was against your soulmate and two, you were still injured from your last mission so you were barely strong enough to beat a highly trained specialist. If they won, both of you were certainly dead. You needed to escape - that was your best bet.

 

“Chute!” You screamed to Hand.

 

Hand managed to incapacitate Garrett and helped you do the same to Ward so that you’d have enough time to escape. You both sealed the doors behind you, running towards the loading area and grabbing 2 parachutes, carefully strapping yourselves in. You lied to Hand about quickly checking your coordinates on the system and instead went to the sealed doors. Ward and Garrett were shooting at the locks, hoping for it to miraculously open. Face to face with Ward (but thankfully behind a bulletproof door) you only had one thing left to say.

 

“Adios bitch,” a sly wink escaped your eye as realisation sprung on Ward but you had no time to relish this moment. You were sure you saw the beginnings of a smile of some sort erupt from Ward but honestly, who knows when it comes to HYDRA.

 

You didn’t really lie to Hand. The coordinates told you that you wouldn’t land in the ocean which was really the only good news you needed. You looked nervously at her before the big jump. You were unsure about whether your injured leg could even handle this jump but you had no choice so…here goes.

 

You landed in a desert. Bloody great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to anyone reading this! This is my first AoS ff and I'm pretty excited to be sharing it. I'm happy to take any positive or negative feedback on board so please do comment!


	2. Ward POV

**_Adios bitch._ **

__

He can’t fathom his soulmate in any way, or what situation will come about to start off a conversation with that phrase, but Grant can’t help but smile every time he sees those words plastered across his chest.

 

Okay, time out, Grant. Soulmates are a weakness, even when you haven’t met them yet. I mean, look at the distractions they cause. Nevertheless, at this moment in time, Grant was open to any distractions. He was still being detained after shooting the “Clairvoyant” dead. Oops, his fingers slipped. Grant smirked as he recalled the shock on everyone’s faces after he killed that man; even Garrett was stunned. He wasn’t worried though; the team was emotional (too emotional, most of the times) but Coulson would make the logical decision and allow him back in the fold. He was their best agent after all.

 

“Coulson said you’re an informant. Wanna elaborate on that?” Grant began interrogating May whilst they were locked up together.

 

Grant did enjoy playing the suspicious judgemental agent, especially with May and even more so with their history. The fact that Coulson suspected her to be HYDRA was almost laughable because from what he could see, she was the person most loyal to Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. In a matter of hours Coulson had released him. Garrett explained to him how Agent Hand was the Clairvoyant now and that her team was shooting at the Zephyr. It seemed like HYDRA didn’t even need to step in at this point because S.H.I.E.L.D could take each other out now.

 

“Ward and Skye. Disable their systems,” Coulson ordered, reminding them to only use ICERS. Jeez, you’d think in this situation, where they believe they’re up against HYDRA, they’d finally be comfortable with killing.

 

Temporarily trapped inside the utility closet, Grant felt like maybe now was the right time to address the weird tension between him and Skye, “If we get out of this. Maybe we can grab a drink, you and me.”

 

All Grant had to do was up the emotions (the whole team, excluding May, were a sucker for those) and she agreed. As simple as that. Okay, maybe not so simple, but he was rewarded with a kiss. Neither of them had found their soulmate but they were open to the idea of experience and if everything did go well today, maybe this could be the start of something good.

 

After he’d fought all the “HYDRA” agents, Ward thought that maybe they’d gotten away with it. Hand would be dead and thought to be the Clairvoyant, preventing any further suspicions. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. After an explosion shook the base, Grant ran towards its source and found Garrett being led away by 2 agents. To the rest of the team, it looked like Grant was upset and angry about his S.O’s betrayal but in reality he was angry with the team for not leaving things be. He needed to fix this before Garrett was far from his reach.

 

Grant persuaded Hand to allow him to escort her to the Fridge. The plan was to eliminate everyone except Garrett and head to the Fridge and raid its inventory. When Hand was coaxing Grant into killing Garrett, he decided he’d had enough of her voice and promptly killed the two agents sitting beside Garrett. He then turned his gun on Hand. Her eyes were elsewhere as she began telling someone to run. Grant turned to face a random woman who he’d never seen before and he felt sorry for her. If she hadn’t come from wherever she did, she might still be alive and not psychologically scarred by the death she was about to witness.

 

“You shouldn’t have seen this,” he told her and he swore he saw a flash of something in her eyes. Not fear, but something else. Before he could even contemplate what it was, the woman jumped on him and knocked the gun out of his hand. Garrett appeared to join in a struggle against Hand.

 

The woman began shouting, “Shoot!”

 

Grant was confused, was that a code word? Neither of them had the gun, it was far into the corner so he didn’t understand what they would shoot with. Hand, somehow, got the gist of what she was saying as she quickly incapacitated Garrett and then helped the woman to overpower Grant. They quickly sealed the doors and a tired Grant was becoming increasingly frustrated. He and Garrett then took the guns of the dead agents and tried to look for the outline of the lock system so that they could disable it by shooting at it.

 

All of a sudden, that random women appeared before the door and Grant was so tempted to shoot but firstly, the door was bulletproof and secondly, he didn’t really want to kill her even though she had ruined his backup plan. He realised that she had the parachute straps on and internally rolled his eyes at himself as he finally understood what she meant by Shoots (or Chutes, whatever, he wasn’t bothered by that, at all). She gave him a sly wink.

 

_**Adios bitch.** _

__

And more realisation hit Grant. The situation in which he met his soulmate was beyond terrible but he couldn’t help but smile. Wherever she was jumping to, he hoped she would survive.


	3. Reader POV

Turns out the desert wasn’t in some far away place in Asia. It was just in Mexico. You’d been here a few weeks, living with a kind family who had let you stay in a room (which you had to share with Hand, but beggars can’t be choosers) in return for doing the housework which surprisingly, wasn’t too bad.

 

“Ma’am, why can’t we go back now? It’s been weeks.”

 

“To answer your question as I have done all the other times you’ve asked, it isn’t safe! We don’t know who is HYDRA and until they’ve been eradicated from S.H.I.E.L.D, we can’t go back.”

 

“And how will we know what status S.H.I.E.L.D is at, it’s not like they’ll be broadcasting this to the public.”

 

“No, of course not. When the time comes, S.H.I.E.L.D will reach out to us. I know they will,” Hand assured you but you weren’t convinced.

 

Hand was right. Of course she was. You didn’t realise how many months had passed but one day when you went down for breakfast, you found Coulson and Hand in deep conversation.

 

“Agent L/N! Good news. The quinjet is ready to fly and we’ll be leaving in 20 minutes,” that was all Coulson said to you before heading out. Thankfully Hand filled in the gaps as she told you everything that had happened and that Coulson was now Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. It really had been a busy few months.

 

When you finally reached the Playground, you were anxious to get on the Zephyr and meet Coulson’s team who you held in high esteem after Hand told you about everything that they had done to stop HYDRA. Agents FitzSimmons were away on a research task and Agent Skye was nowhere to be found.

 

Turns out she was in Vault D - somewhere where they keep dangerous but useful individuals. Hand was going in there and you were quick to follow until she told you to wait outside. A few minutes had passed until she and Skye came out and said something to you which was nothing short of a surprise.

 

“He’s asking for you.”

 

Uh, who? You threw her the most confused look ever but Hand didn’t elaborate so you went inside the vault. You knew it was secure so you weren’t worried, even though the dark lighting down the short stairway did manage to escalate the eerie atmosphere. You’d seen similar vaults to this so you knew how to open the visual barrier using the tablet. Well, you thought you knew. You were just meddling with the tablet until you looked up to meet the intense stare of your soulmate - Grant Ward.


	4. Ward POV

Raiding the Fridge wasn’t as easy as Grant thought it would be. Deception and trickery, he was fine with, but now he realised that the people he and Garrett were killing didn’t really need to die: they just needed to be knocked out for an hour or two. Grant didn’t mind killing but these men were dying due to convenience, not necessity. Quiet, no time for morals. They needed to quickly raid the inventory and let out as many prisoners as they could. Grant was fascinated by and almost proud of the ensuing chaos around him.

 

Grant got through Koenig’s interrogation by the skin of his teeth. The real reason why he’s here? For Skye. Agent Koenig probably assumed that Grant was in love with her and was here to protect her. No. He was here to take her. She was an intriguing girl and maybe something could have happened between them, but Grant had met his soulmate. Yeah, there was the small issue of them both physically attacking each other on the first encounter but for someone like Grant, that was perhaps the best way to meet his soulmate.

 

Koenig was irritating and strange but Grant didn’t want to kill him, so he didn’t. When he found the footage of Grant raiding the Fridge, Grant merely choked him up until a point where he was slightly breathing. This was of no use because when Skye found him, looming over Koenig’s body, she assumed the worst (come on, he only choked him). Grant had no time to waste in consoling Skye so he knocked her unconscious and took her. He didn’t account for Skye’s resourcefulness when she managed to escape, so he just focused on the fact that he did what Garrett had asked - the data had been decrypted.

 

When a HYDRA agent dragged FitzSimmons before Garrett, Grant was angry. Why do S.H.I.E.L.D never fully protect their scientists? He admits that they are completely capable of holding their own - evidence of that is when Fitz saved their asses from the Russians. But he still despised how they weren’t fully protected by their organisation. These almost paternal feelings surprised Grant and when Garrett told him to effectively eliminate FitzSimmons, his need to obey Garrett’s orders and desire to protect FitzSimmons conflict.

 

See, the thing Garrett didn’t realise when he was conditioning Grant was that every person Grant killed deserved it (according to him, anyway). HYDRA deal with scum so he had no problem cutting them off. On the other hand, S.H.I.E.L.D agents may be irritating and up their own moral compass, but they didn’t need to be killed. Especially FitzSimmons. So Grant did the only thing he could. He continuously shot them with ICERs until they’d ran out, then hid them in the storage part of the Bus. They may get a few sore bruises and their breathing would probably be restricted, but at least they’d still be alive.

 

Grant liked his team but he couldn’t let them kill Garrett. He failed. With Garrett’s death, Grant lost his purpose. He never truly believed in HYDRA and what they did; they were merely a means to an end. S.H.I.E.L.D found a new purpose for Grant - to rot in Vault D and give them information on Hydra. He wasn’t glad about it, not by a long mile, but he was thankful to be alive and to still be close to the team, even if they all hated him.

 

Grant only talked to Skye. The team probably thought he was obsessed with her, but it wasn’t that. When Raina told him about Skye’s parents, he was eager to tell Skye because he knew that this was everything she’d been desperate to find out. Although things didn’t work out between them, he still wanted to tell her everything that he knew. Of course he couldn’t tell her everything at once, otherwise they would have no more use for him. That’s why every time she would visit, he would give her crumbs of information about Hydra and then attempt to tell her about her parents, but she’d never stay long enough to listen.

 

This visit was different. Grant had barely said anything of use when someone else had entered the vault. He was shocked to see Agent Hand. The last time he saw her, he’d tried to put a bullet through her head. Ah well, it’s been a while, she’ll be over it by now.

 

“Well isn’t this a nice surprise,” Grant smiled at the woman, “I was afraid you were dead but I really am glad to see you alive.”

 

“I’m sure you are. Truth be told, I came here for the mere satisfaction of seeing you suffer but it’s more of a pity really.”

 

“Trust me, you have nothing to pity. They’re treating me well here,” Grant glanced over to Skye, “Please tell me your partner survived too, otherwise that would be the real pity. I’m guessing she’s here with you.”

 

“Yes, she is alive but her whereabouts are none of your concern.”

 

“Actually it is, I have something I want to say to her.” Grant was relieved but not surprised to hear that his soulmate had survived, “Skye, that thing we were just discussing? The intel that I have on it will never escape my lips until I see that woman.”

 

Skye looked over to Hand and both looked completely confused. It looks like his soulmate didn’t tell anyone about their bond. The two women whispered to each other and promptly left the room, closing the barrier as they left. Okay, he didn’t expect that. Seriously, they couldn’t let him talk to her at least once? All this time he had been playing along with their rules and giving them information, but they couldn’t even complete just one request of his?

 

All of a sudden, he heard the door to the vault open and the sound of light footsteps quickly walking down the stairs. The visual barrier opened and then there she was, not even looking at him. She was busy tapping away on the tablet screen to even notice him. Come on, look up. Grant didn’t want to say anything and scare her, so he patiently waited. He was amused to see her face scrunched up in frustration at not being able to use the tablet properly. She looked similar to Sky when she couldn’t master a fighting technique he’d taught her. Something about his soulmate’s frustration was much more endearing though - it looked like she would pick a fight with the tablet if she could.

 

After what felt like not enough time spent observing and admiring her frustrated face, she finally looked up.

 

There she is, he thought - my soulmate.


	5. Reader POV

You were not going to let this throw you. No way. Why didn’t they tell you who was in Vault D? You were completely surprised and didn’t know how to approach this situation. You’d have to ignore the burning feelings of anger at your soulmate - anger because he was HYRA and a traitor, but also because this asshole was your soulmate and somehow fate determined that he was supposed to be a part of you and vice versa.

 

“Hello,” Ward softly whispered to you as if you were some fragile being, “Look, I know this is a strange situation for both of us, but I wanted to meet you…properly.”

 

“You think this is a proper way to meet someone?” You indicated towards his cell, your anger rising, “What do you want?”

 

“I regret how we met and I want to straighten out any assumptions you’ve made about me. What I want is an honest conversation,” Ward paused before extending his hand even though there was no way you could shake it, “I’m Grant Ward - not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D or HYDRA, just Grant Ward.”

 

“Are you being serious? You’re a traitor and a murderer and you attempted to kill my S.O and I. Those aren’t assumptions that I’ve made, those are facts,” you allowed yourself to breathe before continuing, “The funny thing is, I’m completely over it, but don’t attempt to brush all this messed up crap under the carpet so that we can start an honest conversation. And you do realise that I can’t shake your hand, right? Are you a complete idiot?” 

 

Okay, you needed to slow down. Perhaps you were angry, but the primary cause wasn’t Ward’s betrayal or the stupid nature of his attempt to shake your hand with a secure screen between the two of you. You were angry because this was it for you. He was your one and only soulmate and you couldn’t help but groan at how this was so unfair. Granted, he was annoyingly attractive and skilled and somewhat charming, but he was him! Even if you wanted to resolve things, what would be the point? He’ll be locked up for most of his life. Gosh, why did this idiot let himself get caught. You were curious about what angle he was playing, so you decided to go along with it.

 

“I’m Y/N,” you calmly introduced yourself after that short rant. Ward’s face displayed a mixture of confused and amused. He probably thought that there was something wrong with you, “Now as fun as this conversation has been, Mr Ward, I have things to do. I request that nobody be made aware of the fact that we are…you-know…that,” you didn’t know why you struggled to say the term out loud.

 

“Wait,” you paused as Ward called out, “Just call me Grant. I look forward to seeing you again,” Grant’s eyes narrowed as he confidently promised you, “You will see me again.”

 

Something about Grant was endearing and something about Grant was scary. That’s why, when you thought back to the conversation that you’d just had with him, you didn’t know whether that last sentence was really a promise or a threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been 7 months and I finally upload with the shortest chapter yet. I am terrific!


	6. Reader POV

You’d occasionally get to hang out with Coulson’s team when he and Hand had important meetings. You slowly understood why he loved his team so much. May was a little bit intimidating but she was patient with you whenever you would ask her questions about what was going on. Mack was extremely friendly and he’d never get annoyed when you’d constantly pester him about any new technology he was working on. Fitz was a strange one - he had an unusual obsession with monkeys and was sometimes a bit smug when it came to sharing his scientific knowledge, but seeing him and Jemma together just made you happy. If the word soulmate was in a picture dictionary, they would be the accompanying photo. Jemma was such a kind individual and you loved how she would always offer you tea whenever she was free. 

 

Then there was Skye. She’d told you about how she got into S.H.I.E.L.D and you were fascinated by her. She was so strong-willed and confident and you could see what Grant saw in her. You’d heard that they kinda had a thing and you weren’t that surprised because a girl like Skye could definitely hold her own with him. If it wasn’t for Grant’s betrayal, they’d probably be together now, but of course he ruined that. Skye didn’t seem bitter about it though, she was glad that it had stopped before it truly began. You two became good friends but you never told her that Grant was your soulmate - nobody could know. They all hated him, well most of them anyway.

 

“I know we hate him, or we should,” you once heard Fitz arguing with Jemma, “But I was right though, wasn’t I? He didn’t kill us. He ignored Garrett and he saved us. And with Koenig, if he was really HYDRA, then he’d have simply killed him. That would’ve been the easy thing to do!”

 

“Yes,” Jemma sighed at Fitz, “And Koenig was subsequently hospitalised.”

 

“But think about it. He didn’t want to hurt us, any of us! I know he betrayed us but he’s still our friend and I believe that there’s some good in him.”

 

“You can believe whatever you want to, Fitz. Just please stop visiting him. I don’t want him to think that he’s been forgiven as easily as that. The whole point of the cell is for isolation!”

 

You found yourself agreeing with Fitz. When you’d heard about Grant’s troubled childhood, you couldn’t help but sympathise with the man. If it wasn’t for Garrett, you often wondered how he would have turned out.

 

Grant shared information on HYDRA on the condition that you would be the person to collect it. When Coulson confronted you about Grant’s new conditions, you feigned confusion about the matter and the team began to wonder whether Grant’s obsession with Skye had now transferred to you. You knew that when you’d come to collect the intel, it wouldn’t be easy, but you didn’t realise just how difficult it would be. You didn’t have a problem with whatever dreadful HYDRA stories he would tell you but when he began talking about himself, you struggled to listen. His voice was enchanting but the narrative was not. Your heart burned when he gave you detailed descriptions of his parents’ abuse and how Garrett had shaped him up to be a ‘real man’. 

 

At first, you told him to stop it - you didn’t care about him and what he went through. But Grant was persistent in making you hear his story until one day, you listened to everything he had to say. You could feel your soul scream out against the injustice, almost as if it had been done against you, demanding some kind of retribution. You couldn’t let yourself get emotional, not in front of him, so you silently got up and left. You were angry that your soulmate had went through all of this alone and you felt ashamed that you couldn’t have done anything to help.


End file.
